Bay Leaf Baptist Church Weekly Sermons

Bay Leaf Baptist Church
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Biblical teaching from Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC — a multi-campus church passionate about gospel-centered preaching, disciple-making, and mission. Tune in weekly for sermons that explore God’s Word and encourage you to follow Jesus in everyday life. Whether you’re part of our Falls Lake or 540 campus—or listening from afar—you’ll find truth, hope, and practical application from Scripture.

  1. 6d ago

    5-31-26 // Honor Your Father and Mother // Exodus 20:12 // How Do We Honor Our Parents?

    On Graduate Sunday, Pastor Jared Richard opened Exodus 20:12 to walk the entire congregation — not just the seniors — through the fifth commandment: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." He was careful to note that "honor" carries far more weight than simple obedience. Drawing from the Hebrew word meaning heavy or weighty — the same word used to describe the glory of God — Pastor Jared showed that to honor our parents is to take seriously the God-given authority and position they hold in our lives. Following John Calvin's framework, he identified three Marks of true honor: reverence, obedience, and gratitude. He also traced how this honor looks different at each stage of life, from the young child obeying in the home, to the teenager seeking counsel, to the adult caring for aging parents — pointing to Matthew 15 where Jesus himself condemned those who neglected their parents in old age. Pastor Jared pressed the congregation toward the gospel as the only real answer to our failure to keep this commandment. He reminded the church that Adam was a rebellious son, Israel was a rebellious son, and we are rebellious sons and daughters. But Jesus was the faithful Son — perfectly honoring his heavenly Father all the way to the cross and perfectly honoring his earthly mother even while dying. It is only by being united to Christ, the one who kept the law we have broken, that we can be forgiven as rebellious children and empowered to become faithful sons and daughters — both to God and to our parents. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

    45 min

  2. May 26

    5-24-26 // God's Gracious Gift // Exodus 20:8-11 // Why Did God Give Us a Day of Rest?

    Pastor Patrick Austin opens with a warm and relatable childhood memory — sneaking a peek at the Sunday sports section before church — to introduce what he calls one of the most misunderstood and most neglected of the Ten Commandments: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). Rather than offering a checklist of what is and isn't allowed on Sundays, Pastor Patrick reframes the entire conversation. God has graciously given us a day of rest, he argues, not as a burden to bear, but as a gift designed for our good and for His glory. In a world addicted to busyness, productivity, and the constant buzz of notifications, we have drifted far from God's good design of work and rest — and in doing so, we are missing out on something far greater than a day off. At the heart of the sermon, Pastor Patrick walks through three ways this day of rest functions as a gracious gift. First, it positions us rightly before God, reminding us weekly that He is the Creator, the Provider, and our Savior — and we are not. Second, it points us to the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ, who in Matthew 11:28-30 extends an open invitation to cease striving and find true rest in Him. Third, drawing from Hebrews 4, it prepares us for the eternal rest that is still to come — a rest that no promised land, no vacation, and no Sunday afternoon nap can fully satisfy. The weekly rhythm of rest is a foretaste of heaven itself. Pastor Patrick closes with practical and pastoral wisdom for how believers at Bay Leaf Baptist Church can honor the Lord's Day — by gathering faithfully for worship, showing mercy to others as Jesus did, working diligently during the week, and resting well on Sundays. With refreshing honesty, he shares his own struggle as a self-described control freak who had to learn — sometimes painfully — that his rest is not found in his work or his striving, but in Christ and in Christ alone. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

    38 min

  3. May 19

    5-17-26 // The Name Above Every Name // Exodus 20:7 // Why Must We Honor God’s Holy Name?

    In this message from Exodus 20:7, Pastor Jared Richard continues Bay Leaf Baptist Church's series through the Ten Commandments by turning the congregation's attention to the Third Commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." Using a word association exercise with names like Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, and Adolf Hitler, Pastor Jared establishes that names are far more than titles — they represent the full weight of a person's life and character. Because God's name, Yahweh, is a revealed, personal, and representative name that encapsulates all of who He is, it carries a holiness that demands our deepest reverence. As Exodus 3:15 declares, "This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations." Pastor Jared then walks through the many ways God's people misuse His name, going well beyond the obvious offense of profanity. Drawing from the Old Testament, he identifies three ancient patterns of misuse — sorcery, false prophecy, and false oaths — and shows how each has a modern equivalent. The prosperity gospel, for instance, mirrors ancient sorcery by invoking God's name as a tool to claim health and wealth, effectively turning the relationship between God and man into a transaction. False prophecy lives on whenever someone attaches "God said" to their own spiritual intuition or personal agenda, and false oaths persist whenever we use God's name to prop up promises we have no intention of keeping. Ultimately, Pastor Jared anchors the sermon in the gospel. Every person in the room has broken this commandment and stands guilty before God. But Jesus, who declared in John 12:28 that His aim in going to the cross was to glorify the Father's name, perfectly honored what we have profaned. He was condemned for blasphemy so that blasphemers could be forgiven. Because of Christ, we are now free to hallow God's name as we were created to — calling upon it in worship, prayer, and lives of genuine integrity that reflect the Lord we claim. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

    38 min

  4. May 12

    5-10-26 // Raising up Faithful Worshipers of God // Exodus 20:4-6 // What Legacy Are You Leaving?

    Preaching through Exodus 20:4-6 on Mother's Day, Pastor Jared Richard makes the case that the Second Commandment is far more relevant to parenting than it might first appear. While the First Commandment addresses the who of worship — worship the right God — the Second Commandment addresses the how — worship the right God in the right way. God's generational language within the command makes His intention unmistakably clear: faithful worship is meant to be passed down from one generation to the next. As Deuteronomy 6:4-9 reminds us, parents are commissioned to imprint God's commands on their own hearts and then impress them upon the hearts of their children. That, Pastor Jared argues, is the number one calling of every mom and dad. Pastor Jared then walks through three lies that idolatry tells about God — that He can be limited, that He can be managed, and that He can be accessed on our own terms rather than His. Using the golden calf of Exodus 32 as a vivid illustration, he shows how even well-intentioned worship can become deeply offensive to God when it distorts who He is. He applies this to the modern church as well, warning against picking and choosing which attributes of God we're comfortable with, and even cautioning that worship music itself can become idolatrous when we treat it as the mediator of God's presence rather than Jesus. The sermon closes with the Gospel promise embedded in the commandment itself. The curse falls upon those who hate God to the third and fourth generation, but the blessing falls upon the faithful for a thousand generations — an exponentially greater promise. Pastor Jared points to Jesus as the only one who ever worshiped the Father in complete faithfulness, and through His death and resurrection, His faithful worship is applied to all who repent and believe. The call to parents is clear: love the Lord your God with everything you have, and love Him so visibly and so joyfully that your children want what you have. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

    44 min

  5. May 5

    5-3-26 // God, The One and Only: The First Commandment // Exodus 20:1-3 // What Holds First Place in Your Life?

    Pastor Jared Richard opens by grounding the Ten Commandments in the framework Jesus gives in Matthew 22:37-40 — that all of the law hangs on loving God and loving your neighbor. With that lens in place, Pastor Jared turns to Exodus 20 and makes clear that the commandments are not a God-given checklist to earn His acceptance. Rather, they are expressions of love — a loving response to a God who has already acted to save His people. The first four commandments teach us to love God, and the last six teach us to love our neighbor, together showing what it means to live as the people of God in a broken world. The heart of the sermon focuses on the First Commandment and four key questions surrounding it: why God is worthy of worship, how He demands to be worshiped, why His people struggle to give it, and what happens when they fail. God's worthiness flows from who He is — the great I AM, the Lord Almighty, and the personal covenant God who brought His people out of Egypt. He demands exclusive worship, describing Himself in Exodus 34:14 as a jealous God, not out of sinful jealousy, but because He alone deserves it and because it is genuinely good for His people to give it. Yet like Israel who built a golden calf in Exodus 32, God's people then and now are prone to replacing Him with more manageable idols — careers, relationships, security, and success — whenever fear or impatience sets in. Pastor Jared closes with the Gospel as the only resolution to this dilemma. The penalty for broken worship is death, as seen throughout the Old Testament, and none of us have loved God with all our heart, soul, and mind as He deserves. But Jesus is the only one who perfectly obeyed the First Commandment, and He took our penalty of death upon Himself. As Romans 8 reminds us, "There is therefore now no condemnation" for those who are in Christ. Jesus not only frees us from the penalty of false worship — He gives us new hearts for true worship, restoring us to the life of undivided devotion to God we were created for. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

    45 min

  6. Apr 28

    4-26-26 // A Dangerous Proposal // Exodus 19 // How Can We Draw Near to a Holy God?

    In Exodus 19, Pastor Jared Richard unpacks what he calls the "proposal of God" — a breathtaking invitation for God's rescued people to enter into covenant relationship with Him and become His treasured possession. Just as God reminded Israel in Exodus 19:4, "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself," the foundation of this relationship is not human effort but divine grace. Salvation came before the law, and obedience was never meant to earn God's favor — it was meant to express love in response to the love already freely given. Yet the second half of the chapter reveals a sobering problem. Even after consecrating themselves and washing their garments, the people still could not draw near to the mountain of God's glory without risking death. The holiness gap between God and His people was real, and no amount of preparation could fully close it. This tension, Pastor Jared argues, is not just Israel's problem — it is ours as well. The answer to that problem is not found at Sinai but at Calvary. Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the law, perfectly revealed the Father's glory, and perfectly covers the holiness gap through His grace. As John 1:16-17 declares, "From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Because of Christ, there are no longer any limits to the intimacy we can have with the Father. The invitation to draw near still stands — and in Jesus, we finally can. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

    41 min

  7. Apr 21

    4-19-26 // The Grace of Shared Responsibility // Exodus 17:8-18:24 // Who Is Holding Up Your Arms?

    In his sermon from Exodus 17-18, Dr. Jamie Dee reminded the congregation that God is always faithful to His people and His promises, even when circumstances seem overwhelming. Drawing from Israel's surprise attack by the Amalekites after their Exodus from Egypt, Dr. Dee highlighted the strange but powerful moment when Moses held up his staff and Israel prevailed in battle, but when his arms grew weary, they began to lose until Aaron and Hur supported his arms. Dr. Dee used this passage along with Jethro's advice to Moses about delegation to teach four essential truths about shepherds and spiritual leaders. First, shepherds need people to hold up their arms through prayer, encouragement, and support, as pastoral ministry involves unique stresses and constant pouring out. Second, shepherds need help maintaining focus on their primary calling to pray for people, preach God's Word, and disciple believers. Third, shepherds need other leaders to share the ministry load, as Moses appointed able men who feared God to judge smaller matters. Finally, shepherds must remain teachable and open to wisdom, as even Moses humbly received counsel from his father-in-law. Dr. Dee concluded by challenging listeners to answer God's call to ministry, noting that 25% of churches in the South cannot find pastors, and encouraged everyone to take courage in God's faithfulness regardless of life's challenges. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

    33 min

  8. Apr 14

    4-12-26 // Formed in the Wilderness // Exodus 15:22-17:7 // How Is God Shaping You in Hard Seasons?

    Pastor Jared Richard drew from the image in Jeremiah 18 of God as a potter working with clay to frame his message on Exodus 15-17. He explained that after delivering Israel from Egypt, God led them into the wilderness not to punish them, but to continue His shaping work - getting Egypt out of them, not just getting them out of Egypt. The wilderness serves as God's workshop where He reveals and reshapes the flaws in our hearts. Through three scenes - the bitter water at Marah, the hunger in the wilderness of Sin, and the thirst at Rephidim - Pastor Richard showed how the wilderness revealed Israel's spiritual condition: bitterness, doubt, grumbling, and lack of trust in God's provision. Yet in each situation, God responded with mercy and provision, using these moments to teach His people dependence on Him. The pastor emphasized that Jesus is the true and faithful Israel who succeeded in the wilderness where the people failed, being tempted in the same ways but remaining obedient. For believers today, Pastor Richard encouraged three responses to our own wilderness moments: trusting God completely to meet our needs, listening carefully to His Word rather than relying on our own expectations, and receiving His gifts with contentment. He shared from his own difficult pastoral experience during COVID to illustrate how God uses wilderness seasons to shape us into better vessels for His use, even when we don't enjoy the process. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

    45 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Biblical teaching from Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC — a multi-campus church passionate about gospel-centered preaching, disciple-making, and mission. Tune in weekly for sermons that explore God’s Word and encourage you to follow Jesus in everyday life. Whether you’re part of our Falls Lake or 540 campus—or listening from afar—you’ll find truth, hope, and practical application from Scripture.

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